AIDS Camp Plea: Pass Reform Plan

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS Camp Plea: Pass Reform Plan

USA Today (10/18/93) P. 10A (Price, Richard)

For people with HIV/AIDS, the Clinton health care plan is the most critical public-policy issue affecting them today. Because the plan would guarantee all Americans health insurance and prescription coverage, including people with "pre-existing conditions," infected persons as well as the health care providers who treat them are pleading for Congress to pass the proposal. Advocates for AIDS coverage were fearful that budget concerns would limit care for terminal patients, and that experimental AIDS treatments would not be covered. As it is now, tens of thousands of HIV-infected individuals go untreated or under-treated. Of all HIV- infected persons, 47 percent are forced to turn to public assistance, and some are bankrupt. Others, although in good health, are trapped in jobs because switching positions would result in the loss of insurance. As drafted, President Clinton's health reform would shift the major issue in the lives of AIDS patients from money to health. "I see [the plan] as a great plus," says Paul Volberding, a physician and professor who operates San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS program. "In many areas of this country, the access of people with HIV infection to health care is severely limited. That's wrong."

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